


Robert And Diane At Hotten General

by theprincessed



Series: Village Talk [11]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Angst and Feels, Canon Compliant, Conversations, Family Feels, Gap Filler, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-28 16:11:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8453020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theprincessed/pseuds/theprincessed
Summary: Diane visits Robert and Aaron after the crash. It brings up more memories than Robert bargained for...(Set between Aaron being okay after flatlining and Aaron waking Robert up in the chair)





	

**Author's Note:**

> This has been germinating in my head for DAYS, but I couldn’t seem to type it into readable words until now. Although nothing really happens, I thought it'd be okay as a gap filler to knit together the two scenes we saw. I had all the mother relationship feels with this one.
> 
> Hope you enjoy x

Robert's never been more glad that time seems to drag on the longer he stays keeping vigil by Aaron's bedside. There was a moment, as Aaron flatlined, that he was paralysed with the fear that this was it, their time together was up and is probably the reason he'd spent the best part of the hour since Chas and Liv left to give Aaron some time to rest just staring at the man he loves. His _fiancé_. 

With his right hand tangled with Aaron's, stroking his knuckles with his thumb to keep him soothed into sleep, Robert looks at his own empty ring finger. Now that Aaron is out of the critical stage and the doctors don't expect any more problems in his recovery, Robert plans to ask Vic to bring the second engagement ring in for him. He's still watching the way the dim, golden light plays over the metal of Aaron's, when the door quietly eases open. Nurses have been coming and going as they please, so he doesn't bother to look up. However, a few seconds pass of nothing and his curiosity gets the better of him.

“Hiya, pet,” Diane whispers, loitering uncertainly in the doorway. Robert swallows down the emotion that's sprung up at just seeing her kind, dark eyes regard him and Aaron with such motherly concern. “Sorry I couldn't come sooner,” she adds in his too long, too overwhelmed pause, “it's been a bit of a day,”

He snorts a mirthless laugh because he's known that all too well then looks between her and Aaron, torn. He doesn't want to leave him, barely wants to look away at all, but he can tell Diane wants to talk to him outside. He could invite her in, but the thought of Aaron waking up to him a mess isn't something he wants him to stress about, so Robert gently eases his fingers out from under Aaron's and crosses the room to the small window. The blinds are drawn and the light fixed to the wall is turned on, but he pulls the blinds open halfway so he can still watch Aaron when he's not in the room. He knows he'll have to be less clingy very, very soon otherwise he'll get on Aaron's nerves, but he figures he deserves to indulge his soppy side for now.

He steps into the corridor and doesn't know who moves first, whether Diane pulls him down into her arms or he simply falls but he feels drained all the same. He lets himself have this too and squeezes his eyes shut against her shoulder to try and keep the tears at bay. He had unravelled a little too much in front of Chas and Liv as they sat in the relatives' room earlier on and although Diane's his stepmother, old habits die hard of needing to appear unaffected and strong. After a good, long squeeze that he hasn't truly felt in years, he lifts his head and Diane takes his face in both her hands.

“Are you alright?” she asks, eyes roaming the mottled bruising to his eye and drying cut above his eyebrow.

He presses his lips together, still on the edge of flying apart, and nods silently because he doesn't trust himself to speak just yet. They step apart and Robert resolves to hug her and Vic more just for the hell of it. Nothing like a near death experience to remind you what's important to hold onto.

It feels too long already since he checked on Aaron and they stand in the window for a while, him lost in thought and Diane letting him. For the first time since the crash, he feels like he can breathe a little easier, even when his mind replays moments in detail, moments he can't wait to forget. The only one that makes him even vaguely smile is diving back into the lake to find Aaron's ring. The water was as cold and grimy as the first time but he'd been just as determined, so singular in his focus that getting another soaking barely registered until Chas had noticed at the hospital.

“Chas hugged me,” he tells Diane flatly.

Her voice is high with the surprise he's too exhausted to feel. “What? Really?”

“Yeah,” he huffs a laugh, rubbing his thumb against his bare ring finger again and watching the steady rise and fall of Aaron's chest through the window. “First time it's happened. Last thing I expected, but d'you know the weirdest thing? It felt like Mum.” Diane's hand comes to rest in the middle of his back, his pale blue shirt wrinkled, and he shakes his head at himself, “Stupid really, but that's what I thought. No wonder her and Aaron are always hugging each other. He says he hates how she's all over him, but I know he loves it really. Now I can see why.”

“Oh, Robert - ” Diane breathes sympathetically, but doesn't say anything else because he barrels on. If he doesn't get this out, he's afraid he never will. It'll go back into it's usual box, never to be opened again.

“It didn't matter if I was – if I felt - ” he tries haltingly, staring hard at Aaron until his figure starts to blur, “She was my mum, she knew how to make it better and if she didn't, there was always a hug. When Chas - ” Eyelashes wet, he looks down at his damp shoes and feels his chin tremble, trying to stay on top of the myriad of memories every disaster that happens to him always provokes. There's a space in his head where she used to be, but she's still kicking around his heart because, for all intents and purposes, Sarah was his mum and she's not here anymore. He lets out a noisy breath, shoulders slumping harshly, “It just reminded me that's all.”

“Of course, pet,” Diane says softly and, to distract himself, Robert puts his arm around her shoulder. He's aware that he probably doesn't smell great and loves her even more for not saying a word. He realises that it's time.

“I thought Chas was gonna yell at me, to be honest,” he starts, a bubble of nerves creeping into his voice. He squeezes her shoulder, willing her to be okay with what he's about to say and for it not to go like his conversation with Paddy prior to the day from hell. “For leaving Liv with Vic and Adam, for going back to the lake for Aaron's ring...” He feels her posture stiffen, confused but mostly waiting. “His engagement ring. I asked Aaron to marry me.”

He leaves out Rebecca and the bickering and the fact that he never really got to ask the crucial question beyond calling Aaron an idiot and spoiling his own surprise, as well as Aaron's first word post-surgery being a hazy “yeah,” of shoddy half proposal acceptance.

With them both still looking through the window, Robert can tell when Diane's realised that there's actually a ring already on Aaron's finger because she gasps, puts her hand to her mouth and looks up at Robert, wide-eyed. He's helpless to resist another smile. “He said yes,” she states, reading him correctly. “You're engaged. Oh, c'mere!” She hugs him again, this time with a different emotion coursing through them, making them sway in their embrace and Diane's arms to tighten around his neck, squashing his cheeks enough to make him chuckle. He kisses her cheek and she lets go, eyes alight with the warmth of happiness instead of worry. “I'm so happy for you both and I'm so proud of you, Robert.”

His gaze skitters away from her, embarrassed. “Thanks.”

Her voice is firm as her hand cups his jaw. “Hey, remember, you're as much my son as Victoria is my daughter. I mean it, I’m proud of who you’ve become.” He nods, leaning into the touch and knowing it's easier to accept her words because she's just as fiercely stubborn as he is, “Now, I know you're itching to go back in there to be with your fiancé.”

The thrill of calling Aaron his boyfriend to a few has been replaced by this new term and he beams at his smiling stepmother, glad to feel giddy about something in the middle of this whole sorry mess.

He's pushing open the door to Aaron's room when he belatedly realises something and he steps back out to touch Diane on the shoulder. “Sorry, I haven't even asked what you're doing here. You weren't caught up in - ”

He figures Adam would've mentioned it to him and Vic the same way he said James had been brought in the minute they got to the hospital, but he still feels such relief when Diane waves away his concern. “I'm fine, Doug's fine, it's Ashley. Had a bit of a scrape, but James Barton was the worst off.” It doesn't entirely make sense and a flash of a blue car hits Robert between the eyes and he staggers, blinking rapidly. “But never mind, that,” she says gently, swifting changing the subject and patting his hand still resting on her shoulder, practically holding him up, “You just concentrate on Aaron and let the rest of us worry 'bout everything else.”

Not enough energy to argue and pick and find out more, Robert finally goes back into Aaron's room and takes his seat. Diane stands by the door again, only this time she seems more at peace now that she's seen that Robert and Aaron will be alright.

“Do ya fancy keeping me company for a while?” he blurts out before he can stop himself. He still feels like he needs his stepmum right now. He inclines his head at Aaron, stitches across his nose and rapidly unfurling, gorgeous hair and remaining sound asleep. “Bit of a one-sided conversation at the moment.”

Diane smiles. “Sure, I will.”

They sit and talk quietly about anything and everything and Robert even manages to get out of Diane what she knows about the bigger picture of the crash under the pretence that he'll have to break the news to Aaron at some point. Eventually, they seem to talk so much that there's murmurs that visiting hours are about to be over. Robert feels panic ready to choke him like dirty lake water at the thought of leaving Aaron's side overnight until Diane gets up from her seat beside him and promises to return. She does, around five minutes later, along with a thin, blue blanket clutched in her arms and a nurse behind her. 

“You have your stepmum to thank for convincing me you can stay the night with Mr Dingle.” she explains, only just about tolerating the idea from her serious expression and tone, “Just the one, mind. No keeping him up at all hours nattering, the boy needs plenty of rest, no sleeping in his bed and no funny business. Understand?”

He looks between Diane biting down on her lip and the stern nurse. “Uh, yeah - ” he croaks, bombarded by her rules, rules which he wouldn't really think of breaking for once, “Yeah, I understand.”

She nods at him and Diane and leaves. His stepmother looks like she's about to laugh any second and she tosses the blanket at him. “Come on, let's get you away from temptation for some hospital hanky panky,”

“Diane!” he exclaims then immediately looks at Aaron guiltily for his raised voice, but he's still none the wiser. 

She keeps motioning him over to the chair in the corner of the room and Robert sighs, relenting. His legs have started to ache from being sat in the same plastic chair with very few breaks and his eyes hurt with more than soreness from his minor injury, so he sinks into the other chair without another word and whilst it's not ideal, it's worth a crick in the neck and backache if it means he's with Aaron when he wakes up again. The padding is welcome on his cheek as Diane tucks the blanket under his chin and shoves his blazer beneath his head as a makeshift pillow.

“I'm not a kid anymore,” he says disbelievingly to her fussing.

“No, you're not,” she answers quietly, with a quick stroke through his hair. He knows he's going to need a shower tomorrow, but sleep really does seem like a good idea right now, if he can. “But, in times like these, it's just what mums have to do.”

“Thanks, Diane,” he mumbles, trying to keep his gaze on Aaron for a little while longer but feeling the day's events catching up with him, eyelids heavy.

He feels her kiss his temple, transporting him back to Mum's goodnight kisses on the farm, and move over to Aaron's bedside. Through his eyelashes, he sees her squeeze Aaron's hand and knows he's already welcomed into the family. She shuts the door quietly behind her, the light above Robert's head soft and lulling and the constant beep of machinery attached to Aaron strangely comforting, a lullaby he can work with to send him off for a few hours sleep through the night.

Tomorrow is another day.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, lovelies x
> 
> I'm on tumblr at [theprincessed](http://www.theprincessed.tumblr.com). Come chat to me. :)


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